Analyzing an Ad

Ads surround us every day with the sole purpose of just trying to get people to spend money on their products.  One product’s ad that does this is the Air Swimmers, which is a remote controlled balloon shaped into two different underwater creatures, a clownfish and a shark.  This ad appeals itself to children, teenagers and even parents throughout the country through the different representations of the items within the ad.  The use of the Air Swimmers throughout the ad shows that it can be used for entertainment at children’s birthday parties, at home on a rainy day, or even in a college dorm.  By showing the different activities the Air Swimmer is capable of accomplishing, the ad encourages someone to buy it.  This ad also allows the product to appeal to the emotions of adults because it can be viewed as something that can make an adult feel like a kid again.  However, there is a downfall to this ad, like many others, it does not inform the consumer of the restrictions on using it.  This product is only for use indoors, which is not expressed in the one minute and forty-three second ad.  It is in the fine print on the official Air Swimmers website (http://airswimmers.com/ ) that states this restriction.  Yet, for those like me, the ad was not seen on that website it was viewed on youtube.com, where the information on the product is not completely disclosed.

This ad can be found at:

http://airswimmers.com/

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIJINiK9azc

Political Cartoon

Everyone in America has different priorities, but when it comes to things of actual importance everyone should be on the same page.  The cartoon below addresses the problem that the American people have with setting priorities that are of use or actually important to the improvement of the society that we live in.  This cartoon displays that a third of the American population is more concerned about something like the football lockout, rather than the issues of the economic debt the country is in, the earthquake that was on the east coast, or even the hurricane that recently went through.  The cartoons use of images and words help to convey the idea of the lack of priorities within our country.  Without the words in this image one would not be able to tell what the guy at the end was excited or happy about, since his focus is on something that is more of a leisure activity than one that actually affects the   entire country.  This cartoon appears to focus on that fact that it is the younger generations within our country that are not on the right track because of the age difference displayed between the characters within this cartoon.  This cartoon encourages someone to look back or into the future on things to see if they have their priorities set on a path that is actually useful to society.

Rhetoric in Daily Life

Never knowing what rhetoric was and being told to provide examples that I see on a regular basis seemed like a challenge.  Then after reading the chapter I realized I had spent the past four years eating lunch in my high school cafeteria surrounded by the rhetoric of “Got Milk?” ads, since there was at least two for each wall, while drinking the conveniently provided milk that came with lunch each day.  After this I began thinking about all the posters, signs, and handouts I’ve received being on campus in just these past few days.  All the “Solid Green” campaign items like the recycling bins outside the back of buildings and dorms, even the handy little blue “I recycle” bin that came with my room that try to encourage students to recycle.  I’ve also seen the different posters and handouts trying to get students to join the different religious groups and churches that are around campus; however, these do not come without the incentive of free things.  Then there was the door hanger fittingly placed on the doorknob as I entered my room for the first time encouraging students to “Go Greek”.  I had never imagined rhetoric to be something that would be seen this often on a daily basis.